1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cap opening machine for film seal type caps, and, more particularly, to a cap opening machine for containers with film seal caps, which contain samples (blood or the like) for clinical examination.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, containers for samples for clinical examinations (hereinafter called "sample containers"), which have film seal type caps, are small containers, like test tubes, with caps. To open the cap of a sample container for an examination, for example, to find the tap portion (see "37" in FIG. 2) of the cap, a manual work is actually involved.
In the manual cap opening, part of a sample may be splashed at the time the cap is opened, so that there is possible infection to the operator through the sample. Further, as caps are opened one after another with the same gloves on, if a sample sticks on the gloves, the sample in the next container to be opened may be contaminated. This will affect the examination result and will make the examination unreliable.
As cap opening machines for rubber caps and film seals, there have been developed a type which holds a rubber cap and pulls it out, and another type which flips a film open. Once a sample sticks on the cap holding portion of either cap opening machine, the sample in the next sample container to be opened may be contaminated at the time this container is opened. Further, as those machines are designed to process containers one at a time, their cap-opening performance is very poor and is not economical.